Performance Optimization
Core web vitals, database query work, profiling, and the discipline of staying fast as the product grows.
35 posts · page 1 of 2
- Performance Optimization
The Cost of Over-Caching: Stale Data Stories
Caching solves performance problems. Over-caching creates correctness problems. Here is the taxonomy of stale data bugs and how to prevent them.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
The Caching Hierarchy: Browser, CDN, Edge, Application, Database
Every web application has five caching layers. Understanding which one to use for which data is how fast applications stay fast at scale.
7 min read
- Performance Optimization
Service Workers: When They Help and When They Hurt
Service workers enable offline capability, push notifications, and background sync. They also introduce caching complexity that can serve stale content to users indefinitely. Here is when to use them and when to stay away.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Server Rendering vs Client Rendering vs Static: The 2026 Map
The rendering model you choose determines initial load performance, SEO, deployment complexity, and developer experience. Here is a clear map of when each approach wins in 2026.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Real User Monitoring vs Synthetic Monitoring: Both, Not Either
Real user monitoring and synthetic monitoring answer different questions about application performance. Choosing one over the other leaves performance blind spots. Here is how to use both together.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Profiling Production: How to Do It Without Causing Incidents
Profiling production systems reveals performance bottlenecks that staging cannot replicate. Done wrong, it causes the incident it was meant to prevent. Here is how to profile production safely and what to do with the results.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Performance as a Feature: A Founder's Case
Performance is not a technical requirement separate from product features. It is a product decision that affects user acquisition, retention, and revenue. Here is the business case for treating speed as a feature, not as engineering overhead.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Mobile Performance Profiling: A Founder's Reading Guide
Mobile performance problems are invisible until users leave. This guide explains how to profile mobile app performance, what metrics matter, and how to interpret profiling data without an engineering background.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Memory Leaks in Long Lived Web Apps
Memory leaks in single-page applications are invisible until the tab slows to a crawl. Here is how they form, how to detect them, and the patterns that eliminate the most common sources in React applications.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Lazy Loading: The Patterns That Work and the Ones That Backfire
Lazy loading reduces initial page weight when done correctly. When done incorrectly, it delays the content users actually need and hurts Core Web Vitals. Here is how to apply it with precision.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Largest Contentful Paint: The Metric That Changes Conversions
LCP is the Core Web Vital that measures how fast the main content loads. It is also the metric most directly correlated with conversion rate. Here is what causes poor LCP and how to fix it systematically.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
INP: The New Core Web Vital Most Teams Are Failing
Interaction to Next Paint replaced First Input Delay in 2024 and it is harder to pass. Most teams have not caught up. Here is what INP measures, why it matters, and how to fix the common failure patterns.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Image Optimization at Scale: AVIF, WebP, Responsive Images
Images are the largest contributor to page weight on most web products. Here is the format selection, responsive image, and delivery strategy that cuts load time without manual work.
6 min read
- Performance Optimization
Frontend Performance Budgets: A Pattern That Sticks
A performance budget that the team enforces in CI prevents the slow drift that destroys frontend performance over years. The setup is small. The discipline holds the line.
11 min read
- Performance Optimization
Font Loading: The Subtle Discipline That Improves LCP
Font loading sounds boring and matters more than most engineers realize. The fonts that arrive late shift the layout and slow the LCP. The patterns that fix this are small and well known.
11 min read
- Performance Optimization
EXPLAIN ANALYZE: A Tour of PostgreSQL's Best Diagnostic Tool
EXPLAIN ANALYZE is the most useful Postgres tool most engineers never master. The output looks scary. The patterns are simple. Here is the tour that makes it useful in your daily work.
12 min read
- Performance Optimization
Database Query Performance: The Five Patterns That Hurt the Most
Most database performance problems come from a handful of patterns. The N plus one. The sequential scan. The unbounded result. The cross join. The lock contention. Fix these five and most performance work is done.
12 min read
- Performance Optimization
Critical CSS: When to Bother, When to Skip
Critical CSS was an essential optimization in 2018 and is a niche optimization in 2026. Modern frameworks have made most of the win automatic. Here is when the manual work still earns its keep.
10 min read
- Performance Optimization
Connection Pooling: Why Defaults Are Wrong for Most Stacks
Every framework ships connection pool defaults. Almost none of them match your actual workload. The defaults are designed for the general case. Your workload is specific. Here is how to pick the right numbers.
11 min read
- Performance Optimization
Code Splitting Strategies for Next.js Applications
Next.js code splits by route automatically. The team still has to handle component level splitting, dynamic imports, and the boundary between client and server components. Here is the playbook.
12 min read
- Performance Optimization
CLS Without Tears: Layout Stability Patterns
Cumulative Layout Shift is the metric users feel most. The page that jumps under their fingers loses trust. Here are the patterns that keep CLS near zero without sacrificing the design.
11 min read
- Performance Optimization
CDN Cache Headers: A Practical Primer
Cache control headers look simple and confuse most engineers. Wrong headers either cache nothing or cache everything for too long. Here is the practical guide that gets it right.
12 min read
- Performance Optimization
Bundle Size: The Quiet Killer of Mobile Web Performance
Bundle size is the silent driver of bad mobile experience. The Wi-Fi user does not notice. The 4G user does. Mobile web performance is a bundle size problem more often than any other kind.
12 min read
- Performance Optimization
Backend Performance Budgets: How to Set Them
A backend performance budget is a written commitment to specific latency targets for specific endpoints. Without one, performance is whatever shipped last. With one, regressions get caught in CI.
12 min read
More than blog posts.
The Labs folder has the experiments themselves. The Systems folder has the stack and architecture. The Journey folder has the timeline. Pick whichever pulls you.